Reshoring Is The New Offshoring and Other Fascinating News on the Web

Guess Who’s Back?

Wages are going up in China and other countries. Transportation costs have increased. Faced with those two realities (and a few other factors), some American companies are bringing jobs back. Reshoring is the new offshoring.

Reboot Camp

Even as manufacturing moves back, we won’t see as many jobs return. Much of the future work will be done by robots. That’s true in the private sector. And that’s increasingly true on the battlefield where people are being replaced by drones and bots. Welcome to the front lines of code where basic training might soon include Java and C++.

+ The new military should do some recruiting at Google. The company has been on a robotics buying spree recently. Meet Google’s growing robot army. (If I worked at Bing, I’d watch my back.)

The Playing Field

The scouts start watching their games during grade school. By junior high, the recruiting process has started. And by ninth grade, many have already committed to play their sport at a major college. What’s new about this story? The people being recruited are girls.

+ Between concussions, reports of brain damage, and a Super Bowl almost certain to be played in terrible weather, you’d figure Football would be taking a popularity hit. Hah. While Football remains by far the most popular sport in America, this year’s Super Bowl tickets may go down as the cheapest in years.

+ The Super Bowl and the Supernatural: A third of football fans said that they have prayed to God to help their team. And almost that many believe their team has been cursed. (This seems to provide evidence that even football fans are suffering from concussion-related symptoms.)

+ The Winter Olympics are starting next month. Quick, name one of the women’s figure skating competitors. You probably can’t. That says something about the sport. And it also says something about how companies want to brand themselves.

Olive Guarding

Here are a few details you might not know about that Italian olive oil in your cupboard: It didn’t come from Italy (although it probably passed through Italy in truck). It’s not entirely made from olives. And it may have been smelled by Italian authorities (somehow, this beats lab science when testing for fraud). From the NYT, here’s an illustrated and simple guide to the adulteration of Italian olive oil.

Playing the Oldies

Every time my wife and I are close to convincing our kids that we’re cool parents, Beyonce and Jay Z perform live somewhere. And so it was at last night’s Grammys where Bey and J were among the younger parents to perform (I’m not saying the Grammys skew old, but I wouldn’t have been surprised to see Paul McCartney win best new artist). Here’s a list of all the winners and a look at the 34 best moments from the awards show.

Where Are They Now?

Beginning in the spring of 2002, the Department of Education tracked tracked about 15,000 high school sophomores. Today those folks are about 27. Here’s a look (in charts, of course) at where they are now. (Hint: at home with their parents.)

Give Me Some Sugar

The more we learn about sugar, the more we learn it’s a good idea to limit its intake. The more we learn to limit its intake, the more we tend to switch to other sweeteners. And the more we learn that those aren’t necessarily a better way to go.

The Marlboro Man

Eric Lawson, known better during the late 70s as the Marlboro man, has died from smoking-related causes. Later in his life, he spoke of the negative effects of smoking (though he still couldn’t kick the habit).

+ Even with all the data, we still see young people smoking on the streets. The product is just being sold (partly by television shows) as a different kind of cool.